Late Monmouth touchdown drops Lehigh to 0-4

Lehigh football faces uphill climb after loss to Monmouth drops Hawks to 0-4

As they have several times before this season, Lehigh players came into a postgame news conference along with head coach Andy Coen and talked about the disappointment they felt after a tough loss.

They also talked about a no-surrender attitude and the determination to get things turned around.

But as senior running back Rich Sodeke said on Saturday at Goodman Stadium following the Mountain Hawks' latest bitter defeat — a 28-21 setback to Monmouth — the time for talking is over.

"We can only talk so much," Sodeke said. "We need to start doing things. We need to start winning games, and that's a fact."

Lehigh is 0-4 for the first time since 2009 and now must wait another two weeks before it has a chance to get its first win — an Oct. 11 date against Bucknell in the Patriot League opener.

"These next two weeks are going to be huge for us," Sodeke said. "We need to fly around, condition ourselves and be ready for that game. Bucknell, to my knowledge, is 3-0. That will be our hardest game.

"We really need to beat them to get this rolling. If we don't beat them, we're really going to be in for it."

Lehigh must find ways to stop beating itself.

While the Mountain Hawks again did plenty of good things, they came up short when it mattered most.

It remains a team lacking consistency..

With the game tied at 21, Lehigh drove to a first down at the Monmouth 20.

However, quarterback Nick Shafnisky was injured after a 7-yard run, forcing backup Matt McHale into the game. After Sodeke ran for 15 yards and a first down, the next three plays produced 5 yards. Ryan Pandy came on for a 32-yard field goal try.

The snap was low and freshman quarterback Matt Timochenko, who was serving as the holder in place of the injured Shafnisky, couldn't corral it and get it placed properly. Pandy couldn't elevate his kick and it was blocked.

Taking over at its 26 with 3:40 left, Monmouth moved 74 yards in 10 plays, converting three times on third down.

Lehigh helped with a personal foul penalty and another infraction for having too many men on the field coming out of a timeout

Already in field goal range, but having missed three previous attempts, Monmouth decided to go for it all, and Hill hit Eric Sumlin over the middle for the game-winning score with 11.7 seconds left.

Lehigh couldn't manufacture a miracle.

It marked the third time this season the Mountain Hawks had lost after leading in the second half, and even a measure of improvement by the defense wasn't enough.

While Lehigh lowered its averages of allowing 43.3 points and 645 yards per game, Monmouth still outgained Lehigh 512-394.

The Mountain Hawks registered three sacks after getting just one in the first three games, and an Olivier Rigaud interception set up a short 29-yard drive that led to Sodeke's 6-yard TD run with 6:15 left in the third period.

However, the key 14-play drive that took up 6:26 in the fourth quarter produced nothing. That's why Sodeke felt his first career 100-yard rushing day — 119 yards on 22 carries — didn't mean all that much even though it came against a stingy Monmouth defense that was allowing just 71 ground yards per game.

"I'm happy that we could move the ball, but what's moving the ball if you're not getting touchdowns," Sodeke said. "Those are ghost yards to me. They don't even matter. What's the point in having a 100-yard game if you don't win?

"We need to focus more on scoring touchdowns. That's what we're here for. That's what matters the most."

Shafnisky, the sophomore from Whitehall, had another solid showing by completing 14 of 22 passes for 193 yards and a 33-yarder to Stefan Sansone for a touchdown.

He also eluded Monmouth's pass rush as well as he could despite three sacks and gained 64 yards on 22 carries.

However, he wasn't around to finish perhaps the game's most important drive, and it proved costly.

"I thought for sure we were going to punch it in right there and Nick getting knocked out of the game really deflated the offense," Sodeke said. "McHale's a good quarterback, too, and we're right there. We've got to finish. It was in our hands. We've got the get the ball in the end zone."

The status of Shafnisky's injury wasn't known at day's end, but Coen was optimistic that he'd be able to avoid the long list of starters who are severely injured, some of whom definitely won't return.

"I'm not anticipating getting a slew of guys back for our next game," Coen said. "There's no magic formula here. There really isn't. You have to prepare a certain way and you have to carry that preparation on to the field.

"Our kids compete and care about each other and from my experience, that's how you get things going in the right direction. These kids care. They're disappointed. But that shows they're the right guys."